Former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire’s New Jersey team is No. 1 in the ESPN.com power rankings. https://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/powerranking

Gophers forward Jordan Schroeder is one of 29 players expected at the U.S. World Junior’s preliminary camp that starts tomorrow and lasts through Saturday in Grand Forks.  The camp will help determine who makes the U.S. squad for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships to be held December 26-January 5 in Canada.

If Schroeder makes the team, he would become the first Minnesota player to participate in three World Junior Championships.  Schroeder is already the U.S. all-time assists leader with 15.  He led the U.S. team in scoring and ranked third overall in the tournament last year with three goals and eight assists for 11 points.  He led all tournament players with seven assists.  The U.S. finished fourth last year.

The Gophers play Iowa State in the December 31 Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona and Creative Charters of Stillwater has information on a travel package.  https://www.creativecharter.com/

The Iowa State football roster on the school Website lists only four Minnesotans, sophomore tight end Carter Bykowski from Eden Prairie, freshman offensive lineman Taimon Moran-Hoyne of Bloomington Jefferson, junior wide receiver Jason Carlson from Robbinsdale Armstrong, and junior running back Alexander Robinson of DeLaSalle.  Robinson rushed for 1,095 yards and was one of the most productive runners in the Big 12 this season.

The book GOPHER GLORY: The Pride of the Maroon & Gold will be promoted at Rosedale Center in Roseville on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.  The event will include the book’s author, ex-Gopher Jim Bruton, plus other former Gophers.  Bruton and others will be available to sign copies of the book, on sale for $20.  All proceeds benefit the “M” Club Scholarship Fund at the University.

Minnesota-Duluth, national champions in 2008, finished No. 5 in the American Football Coaches Association Division II Coaches poll.  Minnesota State, Mankato was No. 12.

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Fans may believe the Gophers home basketball nonconference schedule needs upgrading but don’t expect change in the foreseeable future.  The schedule this year consists of exhibition games against Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State Moorhead, with regular season nonconference games against Tennessee Tech, Stephen F. Austin, Utah Valley, Brown, Morgan State, St. Joseph’s, Northern Illinois and South Dakota State.

There’s not one exciting box office draw among the 10 teams.  Ten years ago the Gophers nonconference home schedule at least included Marquette and Virginia.  Thirty years ago Nebraska, Kansas State, Texas A&M, and Rutgers visited Williams Arena.

To maximize revenues, major college teams including Minnesota have put the nonconference home scheduling emphasis on home games with plain-Jane opponents.  Jane comes to your place for a modest appearance fee and doesn’t expect a return game.

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners that ticket revenue from men’s basketball home games ($20 million) represents about 20 percent of his total ticket revenue budget for this year.  “I can’t afford too many games in a given year because financially I need to make the bottom line,” he said.  “You make more money when you play at home than you do on the road.”

The other benefit with the scheduling philosophy used by major conference schools like the Gophers is they can fluff up their record by scheduling the Morgan States, Utah Valleys and Stephen F. Austins.  Yet reality in Minnesota is fans pay some of the highest ticket prices in college basketball and watch a lot of low-appeal teams come to town.  And the Gophers don’t generate much game day ticket sales activity for the nonconference games and last Saturday even had a buy one ticket ($35) and get another free.

Coach Tubby Smith has increased interest in the Gophers since coming here from Kentucky in 2007.  But none of the nonconference games approach selling out while most or all of the Big Ten games have that potential this season. There’s a clear distinction in perceived value by the public including some season ticket holders who don’t use their tickets and leave a lot of seats open at November and December games.

The most that can be hoped for in today’s major college basketball environment is to have a couple of appealing opponents come to your town.  Some other Big Ten programs did better than the Gophers this year.

Wisconsin booked a home nonconference schedule that included Arizona, Duke and Marquette.  Indiana lined up Maryland, Pittsburgh and Kentucky.  Illinois scheduled Utah and Vanderbilt.  Northwestern played Stanford and Butler.

The Gophers were at Miami this year as part of the ACC-Big Ten rivalry.  In a Thanksgiving weekend tournament in California the Gophers played Butler and Texas A&M.  All three of those teams would be welcomed at Williams Arena by Gophers season ticket holders.

The Gophers schedule is more appealing in years when an ACC team plays here as part of the Big Ten-ACC challenge.  The norm is alternate years for hosting an ACC team but Maturi said that’s not guaranteed.  He also said next year’s nonconference schedule isn’t completed and so no comparisons can be made to the present one.

It won’t be dramatically different though, but one approach that could add some marquee value in the more distant future is that Maturi and Smith have talked about a “neutral” court game at perhaps Target Center or the Xcel Energy Center against a traditional college basketball power.  Presumably it would be a made-for-TV matchup.

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On a day when the Vikings showed the intensity missing the Sunday before, it was fitting that cornerback Antoine Winfield, whose energy has helped make him an All- Pro, returned to work after missing six games with a foot injury.  There was a lack of urgency about the Vikings play in a 30-17 loss to the Cardinals last week in Arizona but not so yesterday in the Metrodome where the Vikings dominated Cincinnati, 30-10.

“That was the difference between this week and last week in the desert…the intensity and the energy that the Vikings played with,” said former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton.  He praised the emotion the Vikings (11-2) showed on offense and defense in beating a Bengals team (9-4) that he said was almost efficient enough to have come to Minneapolis with only one loss, not three.

The Vikings defense was impressive for most of the game including a strong start holding the Bengals on their side of the 50 yard line until midway through the second quarter.  It took an unnecessary roughness penalty by defensive tackle Kevin Williams on quarterback Carson Palmer to place the Bengals in Vikings territory.  Later on that drive the Bengals scored their only touchdown of the game.

In the last minute of the second half the Vikings scored twice on field goals for a 16-7 halftime lead.  The second field goal came with a few seconds remaining, and it followed a fumble by the Bengals’ Brian Leonard caused by a Winfield tackle.

“I think the key play of the game was probably the fumble he (Winfield) caused right before the halftime with four seconds to go,” Dalton said. “That made it a two score game with that extra field goal.”

Winfield ranks with the NFL’s better cornerbacks, certainly the more physical ones.  His return yesterday was timelier than it might otherwise have been because two starting players on defense couldn’t play, middle linebacker E.J. Henderson and strong safety Tyrell Johnson.

No one has to tell Dalton, who analyzes the Vikings in the media now, how important Winfield is to the team.  “He’s critical,” Dalton said.

Dalton said Winfield gives the Vikings “confidence on the backend in pass coverages” and then he talked about Winfield’s run support.  “He’s just a beast against the run,” Dalton said.

Winfield quickly diagnoses what’s happening in front of him and reacts.  No pondering, just moves quickly to make the tackle.  “That’s why he gets underneath lead blockers (and) blows up the running backs (and) blows up wide receiver screens,” Dalton said.

The Bengals will give a nod to Winfield about that.  He led both teams with nine tackles yesterday.

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